[StBernard] Are You an Obama Winner? Or an Obama Loser?

[Westley Annis]

Are You an Obama Winner? Or an Obama Loser? 
by Newt Gingrich (more by this author)
Posted 05/06/2009 ET




If there was one feeling that inspired almost a million Americans to come
out for the Tax Day Tea Parties last month it was this:  That our
government, supposedly created of the people, by the people and for the
people, is busy picking winners and losers.


The feeling that our politics are increasingly rigged against us didn't
begin with President Obama.  Deciding to bailout Wall Street rather than let
deserving companies go bankrupt began under President Bush.   

But the Obama Administration has elevated rewarding some Americans and
punishing others to a governing philosophy.

And as he has expanded the size and the scope of government, President Obama
has only increased his ability to reach into our businesses, our
communities, and even our homes to separate Americans into two groups:
Those who will benefit from the new order, and those who will pay the bills.

What follows is just a partial list of the winners and losers of the Obama
Administration so far, organized by the government policies that will decide
their fate: 

The Chrysler Bankruptcy Pt. 1:  From the Rule of Law to the Rule of Politics

Winners:  The United Auto Workers
Loser:  The Rule of Law

Bankruptcy was once a legal process in which an insolvent company, an
impartial judge and creditors voting in good faith worked together to make
the best of a bad situation.

Under the Obama Administration, the Chrysler bankruptcy has become a
political process in which government has bought off some creditors,
demonized others, and predetermined a favorable result for an important
political constituency.

What happened last week with Chrysler was an unprecedented case of executive
branch involvement in a bankruptcy proceeding.  The Obama Administration
bullied smaller investors to fall in line with TARP-funded creditors in a
deal that ultimately benefited the union bosses who bear so much of the
responsibility for Chrysler's downfall to begin with.  In the end, the
losers weren't just the secured creditors and the taxpayers who have footed
the bill for all these bailouts, but the rule of law itself.

The Chrysler Bankruptcy Pt. 2:  America, Get Ready for the "Model O"

Winners:  The People Who Are Evading Responsibility for Chrysler's
Bankruptcy
Losers:  Consumers Who Want to Buy Good American Cars

The end result of the rigged Chrysler bankruptcy is that two political
entities whose priority is winning votes (the Federal Government and the
UAW) now have majority ownership of a commercial entity whose priority
should be making good cars.

And despite his protestations that he wants to get out of the auto business,
President Obama has some definite ideas about what kind of cars Chrysler
should make.  Announcing the bankruptcy, he blamed Chrysler's troubles, not
on its uncompetitive labor costs, but on its "failure to make the
fuel-efficient cars like its foreign competitors."

Politicians, not businessmen and women, are calling the shots at Chrysler.
America, get ready for the Model O.

Cap and Trade:  Punishing Americans With High Energy Taxes

Winners:  Government Favored "Green Industries"
Losers:  Anyone Who Heats a Home, Drives a Car or Has a Job

I'm in favor of doing all we can to protect our environment, but I have a
fundamental difference with Democrats on Capitol Hill and in the White
House:  I believe in incentivizing Americans to produce the innovations that
will protect our environment, not punishing Americans with taxes, regulation
and litigation.

The Administration's cap and trade legislation makes losers of the American
people by imposing a $1 trillion-$2 trillion energy tax on an already
struggling economy.  And the winners?  They're the lobbyists for favored
special interests and "green" industries who are already lining up in
Washington to collect the spoils.  

Closing Gitmo:  Terrorists from Guantanamo Coming Soon to a Neighborhood
Near You

Winners:  Terrorists and Anti-Americanism Worldwide
Losers:  The New Neighbors of Terrorists and The American Tax-Payers

You may have missed it in all the news of the week, but the Administration
has a truly mind-boggling idea about how to solve the problem of the
terrorists left homeless by closing the detention facility at Guantanamo
Bay:  Send them to a neighborhood near you.

That's right.  As many as 30 detainees at Guantanamo are slated for release
into the United States, including a group of Chinese, al Qaeda-trained
jihadists who are reportedly being encouraged to settle in Northern
Virginia.

And not only is the Obama Administration releasing these terrorists into the
United States, it's proposing that the U.S. taxpayers foot the bill.  

Here's how Dennis Blair, President Obama's Director of National
Intelligence, rationalizes their plan for welfare for terrorists:  "If we
are to release them in the United States, we need some sort of assistance
for them to start a new life," Blair said last month. "You can't just put
them on the street."

Picking a New Supreme Court Justice:  Playing Favorites Through the Courts

Winners:  Anyone the President Deems Deserving of Judicial "Empathy"
Losers:  Everyone Else

President Obama has announced that his criteria for picking a Supreme Court
Justice to replace the retiring David Souter are jurists with the proper
"empathy" and those who don't regard justice as "abstract legal theory." 

Empathy for the less fortunate should have a central place in our public
policy.  But feeling the people's pain is the job of the people who make the
laws.  The job of judges is to interpret the laws without regard to the
race, color, creed or station of the individuals involved.

When we start picking judges based on their "empathy" for certain groups,
the rights of favored groups inevitably collide with the rights of others.
That's why we have - or should have - equal justice before the law.

Demonizing Wall Street:  Putting Talent and Resources Where Washington Wants
Them

Winners:  Professional "Community Organizers" and Other Government Activists
Losers:  Young Americans Who Want to Chose Their Own Careers

President Obama frequently urges young Americans to emulate him by making
the choice to forgo a lucrative career in finance or law and choose public
service instead.  But now he's put the full power of the federal government
behind his favored career path for young Americans.

Speaking last week to the New York Times, President Obama said that his
anti-business, high-taxing, and high-regulating crusade against Wall Street
"means that more talent, more resources will be going to other sectors of
the economy.  I actually think that's healthy."

The message will not be lost on young Americans:  Do what the President
thinks is "healthy."  Be an Obama winner, not a loser.

What is at Stake Isn't Just Tax Dollars and Jobs But Freedom

The list could go on and on.

What is at stake isn't just the tax dollars, the jobs and the opportunities
of those Americans who come out on the losing side of the Obama
Administration's policies -- as important as these things are.

What is at stake are moral issues of fairness and freedom.  As Arthur
Brooks, the President of the American Enterprise Institute, wrote last week,
it's immoral for the government to "confiscate more income from the minority
simply because the government can. It's also a moral issue to lower the
rewards for entrepreneurial success, and to spend what we don't have without
regard for our children's future." 

Americans don't mind working hard and competing to win.  We don't even mind
losing sometimes. 

What we mind is government making the call.  That was the real message of
the Tea Party movement, and it's one President Obama and his aides would do
well to hear.
 
Remembering Jack Kemp

I end today on a note of sorrow and remembrance of a great man.

Callista and I were deeply saddened to learn of Jack Kemp's passing last
Saturday.  

America knew Jack Kemp as a public servant of boundless wisdom, energy,
optimism and compassion.  Callista and I were fortunate to know him as a
friend.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family in this painful time.
You can read our full statement here.

Your friend,
Newt Gingrich